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Salon.com: Battle.net Goes to War

"Build a better mouse trap, catch more mice. Build a better
online gaming server, get yourself sued. That is what's happening
to the developers of bnetd, a software program for Web servers that
duplicates the functionality of Battle.net, Blizzard
Entertainment's hugely popular online gaming service.

"Ross Combs and Rob Crittenden, two of the lead developers on
bnetd, say all they ever wanted to do was create a place to play
best-selling Blizzard games like Starcraft and Diablo in a friendly
online atmosphere free of the technical bugs that plague
Battle.net.

"Anyone who has ventured on to Battle.net to wage war against
aliens or to hack and slash through dungeons is likely to
appreciate the sentiment. Battle.net's popularity has been one of
its great drawbacks. Frequent crashes and slow response times due
to a huge crush of players -- especially right after the release of
a new game -- can often make Battle.net an unpleasant experience.
The technical problems are exacerbated by social malfunctions: the
malicious killing of some gamers by other players and the
proliferation of hacks that give some players unfair
advantages..."